What every operator should know
about public outreach

Gone are the days when utilities were proud to be
the “silent service.” Issues of rates, construction effects, treatment
levels, and environmental protection are but a few of the topics that require
utilities to maintain open lines of communication with the public.

There are three types of communication, and all are
important: written, verbal, and nonverbal. Written communication takes many
forms — bill inserts, Web notices, articles. It should be free of jargon and
easy for the average person to understand. Verbal communication has to be
genuine and consistent. And nonverbal communication — what is communicated
through behavior, posture, eye contact, tone, and emotion — is extremely
important and often can override what is said to customers or community
members.

Public

A group of people tied together by some common
factor.

There is not simply one public. There are many
publics, also referred to as “audiences” or “stakeholders.” The effort a
utility makes to build strong relationships with each of these groups will
pay dividends over the long term. Publics, or audiences, are either internal
or external:

•Internal: Utility employees, contractors, board
members, retirees, and even employee family members. All of these have a keen
interest in utility issues and often are utility spokespersons whether
officially designated or not.

•External: Customers; community groups; elected
officials; and business, civic, and other interest group leaders. These all
have an interest in the business of the utility for many reasons, and the
utility must build relationships with them. Often, these relationships are
built by utility employees who work in the field and interact frequently with
these individuals or groups.

Public outreach or community relations

Building relationships with audience members or
publics.

Public outreach involves strategic efforts to
proactively contact various internal and external audiences to build
relationships, associate a face with the utility’s name, and raise awareness
about important utility issues.

Outreach activities also can create and build
partnerships, involve interested customers and community members in
discussions about utility issues, help form mutual understanding, engender
trust, reduce conflict, and ultimately lead to more-effective projects or
initiatives.

To be successful, outreach must be consistent,
sustained, and timely. It must be “multifaceted,” meaning the utility uses a
combination of outreach activities, such as presentations, fact sheets,
special events, displays, and more to provide information.

How well this information is received and believed
relies heavily on an organization’s credibility.

Credibility

The ability to have one’s truthfulness or honesty
accepted.

Credibility is earned — and organizational
credibility is largely earned by actions and practices of the people who
represent the utility.

There are things that every utility representative
can do to build credibility. These include returning calls promptly,
providing information as promised, taking positive approaches to problems,
listening first and acting second, showing sincerity, and being
straightforward. These things may sound simple, but they are vitally
important to building organizational credibility — particularly during
difficult times.

Strategic communication plan

A proactive and measurable plan that identifies why
a utility wants to communicate, what it wants to communicate, with whom it
needs to communicate, and what methods and activities are best to reach
various audiences.

Just as utilities have guidance documents for
operations or capital improvement programs, they also need a planned,
systematic program for public outreach. A strategic communication plan
maximizes limited resources and ensures that the entire organization — from
management to customer service to field operations and engineering — are
working from the same “playbook” when it comes to communicating with
customers and other publics.

Strategic communication plans analyze issues,
identify audiences, set goals and objectives, articulate key messages, and
outline activities that will reach audiences. Front-line personnel are
critical to implementing this strategic plan and should be a part of its
development and use.

Communication protocol

Written practices, processes, and assignments to ensure
that all are aware of communication roles and responsibilities, and that
accuracy and consistency are maintained no matter who is communicating.

Does everyone know what to do when a news camera and
microphone appear at the scene of a system emergency?

A communication protocol ensures that each person
knows where to direct the media, how to politely respond while keeping focus
on the emergency at hand, and which spokespersons have been assigned to
address various utility topics or concerns.

It is important for all utility personnel to learn
what protocols the utility has in place and how each employee fits in.

Key messages

The things a utility wants customers and
all community members to know about the organization above all else.

These are concise statements about what
an organization stands for or endeavors to do. Messages are not “spin.” They
can include information about the organization in general or be specific to a
particular project.

Everyone in the utility should be
familiar with organizational key messages and comfortable with their use. For
example: “The XYZ Utility is committed to keeping rates affordable while
ensuring that our wastewater system is in top working condition at all
times.”

How utilities keep rates affordable and
maintain system are the facts that support this message, but the message
itself emphasizes the organizational focus on affordability and reliability.
This is a message all utility representatives can present.

Talking points

A bulleted list of key topical information
to be covered during a presentation, interview, or even a one-on-one
discussion.

Talking points provide the key
information a utility needs to communicate about priority topics and help
ensure consistency regardless of which utility spokesperson is speaking.
Inconsistency can lead to confusion and even distrust — which affects
credibility.

Consistency sounds straightforward but
can be difficult to achieve without proper planning and documentation. Was
the wastewater overflow “a lot,” “hundreds of gallons,” “within regulatory
limits,” or “limited”? Is the rate increase “5%,” “5% more than last year,”
“5% for everyone,” etc.? Talking points provide specificity, clarity, and
focus.

Written informational materials provide
consistent, factual, and easy to understand information about an
organization. All written materials should be posted on a website so they are
easily accessible to everyone. They will include key messages — and
sometimes, the talking points — so they provide a quick reference when asked
questions by any member of the public.

“Gobbledygook”

Confusing and meaningless use of
language, often involving twisted phrasing or long, convoluted sentences,
giving the appearance of an effort to communicate while avoiding genuine
communication.

This is what must be avoided. Jargon,
technical language, or making communication more complicated than it has to
be will jeopardize communication and can lead to confusion or distrust.
Simplicity, truthfulness, accuracy, and consistency should be criteria for
all public outreach efforts.

Crisis communication plan

Communication and outreach efforts
prepared in advance to help any organization representative rapidly respond
to an emergency or disaster.

One need only watch the news to see that
organizations are predominantly judged on their communication response during
emergencies. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico provides strong evidence of
the effects of both poor and successful crisis communication.

A utility should have a crisis or rapid
response plan in place that assigns roles and responsibilities, ensures that
spokespersons are identified and prepared, and dictates how to set up field
communication areas and news conferences when needed, among other
considerations. The time to learn about this plan (or even develop it) is
before a crisis occurs.

All employees and utility leadership
should find out if there is such a plan and how each person fits into its
implementation.

Utility outreach representative

An individual responsible for supporting
utility efforts to build relationships with customers and the public.